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The Way Of The Panda

My second book is The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's Political Animal, published by Profile Books in 2010. It's a history of the giant panda from its formal scientific discovery in 1869 until the present, with the incredibly rewarding bonus that this journey from obscurity to global zoological domination tracks modern China's meteoric rise onto the global stage.

Here are a some pull-quotes from the reviews so far:

"A fascinating story of an extraordinary animal," Desmond Morris

"Henry Nicholls expertly charts the panda's decades of fame and binds together many intriguing facets of 150 years of Sino-Western interaction," Daily Mail

"The book reads somewhat like Gone With the Wind, with the sweeping events of Chinese history in the background and pandas playing the roles of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler," David Pilling, Financial Times

"Nicholls has written an engaging popular science narrative of the panda's discovery...cleverly interwoven with its symbolic role and significance for wildlife conservation, as well as with the politics of the period," Morning Star

"The panda has a fascinating history that Nicholls has superbly documented for your reading pleasure...It is, he writes, 'a super history, just a really good yarn'. Such a claim could have backfired, raising expectations that might not have been met, but his confidence is not misplaced. The story is indeed fascinating, and Nicholls tells it with tremendous verve. More than 'just a really good yarn', this is narrative nonfiction at its best." Ian Critchley, The Sunday Times

"An insightful and meticulously researched history of the animal universally recognised since its threatened status made it a symbol of the World Wildlife Fund’s conservation agenda," Fintan Enright, Irish Examiner

"An enthralling study of one of the world's most popular animals. A hugely enjoyable read that will surely delight any animal enthusiast, particularly fans of the panda," Jane Dawson, Yorkshire Evening Post

"In his story he takes us through the upheavals of Chinese politics in the late 19th and 20th centuries as well as the growing biological understanding of this solitary and remote animal... a fascinating story well told that reminds us of the place that animals should have in our reassessments of the past and of the new perspective that such animal histories might give us," Erica Fudge, History Today